Nothing Changed, Expect Neji
by Merle The Great
Summary: After the Fourth Great Shinobi War, with Hinata as the clanhead of the Hyuuga clan and Naruto as the Hokage, Neji hoped for things to change for better. That didn't happen. He still had the same cursed seal that every Branch member has. Neji is angry at Hinata, angry at Naruto. Then he loses control of his anger and certain snake sannin gives him offer he can't refuse...
1. Chapter 1

**Yeah, new fic. It's actually my first non-crossover fic. My other two stories will be updated during weekend.**

**This idea came to me when I was reading lots of stories by some other writers (can't remember what) and yeah, here it is.**

**Yeah, and in this, Neji didn't die during the war (DEAL WITH IT!)**

**This time I skipped prologue, and the prologue is in the Chapter 1.**

**I don't own Naruto**

"Talking"

_"Thinking, Flashback"_

"SHOUTING"

_"SHOUTING WHILE THINKING"_

"**Jutsu****"**

* * *

Nothing Changed, Expect Neji

Chapter 1: Still a Branch Member

* * *

Obito Uchiha, the man who posed as Madara Uchiha and kept the shinobi world in fear, was dead. His plans of bringing peace to the world through hatred had been stopped by the new hero of the ninja world, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and Hero of the Leaf; Naruto Uzumaki, the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash of Konoha.

He didn't do it alone though, no. He was helped by his friends and the traitor of Konoha, Orochimaru, along with his so called 'best friend', Sasuke Uchiha. The traitorous Uchiha had brought his two team-mates, Juugo and Suigetsu, with him.

All four of them had been given a change to join Konoha and have all their crimes forgiven. With the expection of Suigetsu, who joined Kirikagure later, accepted the offer and were now shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village.

When the mourning of the victims of war had been done, Tsunade stepped down from her position as the Hokage and passed the title to Naruto, who actually cried in happines. The decision was accepted by everyone in the village, and Naruto was greeted with acceptance of everyone, the dream he hadn't told anyone and the biggest dream he ever had.

The council of Konoha had also gotten changes. Due to the deaths of the previous clanheads, the Nara, Yamanaka and Hyuuga clans had new clanheads. Shikamaru, Ino and Hinata took their parents' places.

Due to being near Naruto most of the time, Hinata was able gather enough confidence to confess to the man she had had a crush on since the Academy. To say the least, Naruto was shocked, but then it all came to him, all the faintings and sluttering when he spoke to her, her offering help during the chunin exam, everything. They started dating after that, and soon there were rumors around the village about 'the Hokage's new girlfriend'.

Naruto was truly happy.

* * *

Neji sighed as he got up from his bed. He had been training to the midnight. Even if the war had ended almost a year ago, he couldn't stay away from training. The fact that his sensei and Lee where extremely happy for it, and didn't leave him alone, didn't help at all; it only made it worse.

And then there was the matter with Hinata. At first, he had been happy for her being the clanhead, and he had gotten new hope for getting rid of the cursed seal. And then he had been extremely happy for her to finally confess her crush.

But not anymore.

After almost five months without her doing anything about the family branches, he had went to search for her. When he didn't find her, he figured to ask Naruto about it.

_FLASHBACK_

_Neji knocked on the door that led to Hokage's office. After hearing tired 'come in', he stepped in the office and saw very tired looking Naruto behind a pile of paperwork. "Oh, hey Neji. Where do you need me?" Naruto asked, standing up from his seat to greet his friend._

_Neji, however, wasn't on happy mood, so he just stared at Naruto seriously._

_"Naruto, do you happen to know where Hinata is? I have some things to ask her." Neji said, making Naruto think hard._

_"Nah, haven't seen her since yesterday. I can take your message to her, if you want." Naruto said with his trademark smirk, making Neji smile a little, but it disappeared quickly._

_"Thank you, Naruto. I wanted to ask her about taking the cursed seal from the Branch members, including me." Neji said, trying not to sound angry. Naruto looked a little surprised at the words of Neji, especially the tone he said 'cursed seal'._

_Naruto just nodded, earning a nod from Neji as well, before the Hyuuga exited the room._

_FLASHBACK END  
_

After that, Hinata had said to she would 'look into it', but Neji had doubted that even back then.

Neji sighed again and got dressed to his attire (the one he uses in Shippuden). He made his way out of the room and out of the clan compound. Some main members looked at him in disgust as he passed them. Apparently the Main House didn't like the idea of getting the cursed seals off the Branch members.

Just when he was about to exit the compound, someone pumbed onto him. "Hey, watch it, Branch member!" Neji just glared at the random main branch member in anger, before continuing his trip to his favourite training ground.

When he arrived the training ground, he saw Hanabi with her team. He tried not to look angry at the spoiled brat, and managed somewhat calm expression. When he got closer, one of Hanabi's team member saw him and pointed his finger at him. "Hey, Hanabi. Isn't that your cousin?" the genin asked, making everyone look at Neji.

"What do you want, Neji?" Hanabi asked rudely, making Neji's mask slip for a second.

"I don't want anything from you. I just came here to use the training ground. I rented it for the whole week last sunday." Neji said casually, glancing at the jonin instructor, who happened to be Genma Shiranui.

Genma sighed and took his senbon out off his mouth. "Sorry, Neji. Hokage-sama gave us permission to use this training ground. All of them were full and you already had used this for three days." Genma said tiredly, making Neji's mask slip for atleast two seconds.

_"Why would Naruto do that? He could have asked me firs-" _Neji thought, but was cut off by his annoying cousin, who had annoying smirk on her face.

"You heard sensei, Neji. Be gone. Your kind isn't allowed to be in my presence." Hanabi said arrogantly, making Neji clench his hands to fists. He was just about to leave, when she opened her mouth again.

"What's taking so long Branch membe-" she started, but was cut off by Neji punching her in the face, making her fly to a wall. Just as she hit the wall, Neji ran to her side and took a grip of her throat, choking her. She gasped for air and looked Neji in the eyes. His Byakugan was activated.

Then Genma took Neji in a lock. "That's enough, Neji. If you don't want me to have ANBU take you to the Hokage-sama, you shoud calm down." the jonin said and allowed Neji to move, but stood in front of Hanabi, just in case.

Neji just glared past Genma to Hanabi, who was being helped up by her team-mates, before shunshining away.

* * *

Sakura was at the Konoha hospital. She had been working nonstop since 5 am, and it was already 9 am. She still had the whole day to work. She sighed and put a file of some Konoha shinobi away. Thats when the door to the hospital opened, revealing Hanabi on Genma's arms.

Sakura gasped as she saw the little sister of her friend, Hinata. She had her nose broken, her back was bleeding and she seemed to have trouble breathing. The apperentice of Tsunade rushed to Genma's side with two nurse's behind her bringing a bed for the young Hyuuga.

When they had the girl brought to an empty room, Sakura ran a diagnose and gasped at what she found. The girl had scratches on her spine, her windpipe had been crushed and she had broken collarbone.

"Where you on a mission?" Sakura asked and ordered emergency surgery for the girl.

"No. We where at the Training Ground Three." Genma answered, making Sakura look at him in surprise. For something like this to happen in the village was something you didn't see everyday.

"What happened then? I can't think of anything." Sakura asked as Hanabi was took to the surgery.

"I'll tell you after the surgery. Just make sure she'll be okay." Genma said and Sakura could see sadness and anger in the jonin's face, but the anger was directed elsewhere.

Sakura nodded and went to the surgery room.

* * *

Meanwhile, Neji was killing animals in the Training Ground 44, or the Forest of Death. None of the other Training Grounds where availabe at the time, so he figured to go there. He was, after all, jonin.

Neji let out angry shout as he killed another spider that was trying to attack him. It was the last animal on the clearing he stood at, so he allowed himself to drop to the ground and wait for his chakra to restore again. It would take some time. After all, he wasn't stamina freak like Naruto. The thought of Naruto made him angrier. Why would the Hokage give permission to some team to train when it was rented to him?

Neji punched the ground in anger and muttered: "That damn Naruto." That was when he heard someone chuckling behind him. Neji turned around and saw someone he didn't want to see at the moment.

Orochimaru.

* * *

Genma paced in front of the surgery room. He had had no idea it would be that bad. If he had, he would have had that Neji brought to Hokage. The jonin glenched his fist in anger. Hanabi had been rude towards her cousin, but it didn't give Neji any right to attack her.

He was brought out of his thoughts when the door of the surgery room opened, revealing smiling Sakura Haruno. That made Genma sigh in relief.

"She'll need some rest, but she'll live." Sakura said, smiling ever so gently. Then suddenly, her expression turned serious. "Now tell me, what happened?" she demanded.

"I was on the Training Ground Three, like I told you before. Everything was going like I had planned, until Hanabi's cousin arrived." Genma explained, making Sakura's eyes widen. Neji? "He started by asking what we were doing there, because he had apparently rented the ground for this week. I informed him we had the permission from the Hokage to use it for today. He seemed to get angry from that, but stayed calm, until Hanabi mocked him. Then Neji punched Hanabi and started choking her. Luckily, I was fast enough to stop him from killing her."

Sakura stared at Genma, who had look of anger in his eyes, with her mouth hanging open. Neji had punched his cousin? And then proceed to choke her? Why would Neji do that? "Come on, Genma. We have to inform Naruto from this." Sakura said and rushed out of the hospital with Genma close behind.

* * *

"What do you want, Orochimaru?" Neji asked the snake sannin, who just chuckled more at his question.

"Kukukuku. Why be so angry, Neji-kun? What ever happened to make the genious of Hyuuga clan so angry?" Orochimaru asked with an obviously faked wonder in his voice. He had been following Neji after he had snapped at his cousin.

"Why shoud I tell you?" Neji asked and got up from the ground. He looked around warily, as if the trees had ears. That made Orochimaru chuckle even more.

"Kukuku. Why shoudn't you? I'm a fellow Konoha shinobi." Orochimaru said with interest. Now he truly wanted to hear the answer.

Orochimaru was right. He was a fellow Konoha shinobi now. Neji sighed in defeat and looked at the snake sannin in the eyes. "When Hinata became the clanhead and Naruto the Hokage, I thought my dream had some hope. I hoped they would get rid of the cursed seal of the Branch House. I was wrong. They don't even care." Neji said in anger, making Orochimaru widen his eyes ever so slightly. The sannin had no idea it was because of that, that Neji was so angry.

Then he got an idea. He had been looking for finally getting his revenge on Konoha for the past year, and now he had good oppurtinity that he wasn't going to waste.

"Tell me, Neji. What would you give if someone was able to get your cursed seal off?" Orochimaru asked curously. If he was right, he would have a man more loyal to him than Kabuto ever was.

Neji widened his eyes at the question. Did he mean? No, he shoudn't get his hopes too up. "That someone would have my loyalty. I would be in life dept." Neji answered truthfuly. He had always dreamed of being free from the seal, and would give everything to get it off.

Orochimaru chuckled once again and motioned for Neji to follow him. "Come, Neji. Let's discuss this on our way to one of my bases." Orochimaru said and jumped out of the clearing.

Neji hesitated a little, but followed after the sannin.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**So, what do you think?**

**I have been looking for something like this for a while, and haven't found anything. So, I decided to write this.**

**Sorry if Hanabi's injuries were not believeable enough. I'm no medic.**

**Yeah, next chapter sometimes this month, I'd say.**

**And don't forget to review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**New chapter...It's been a while. More than a month or something? **

**Anyway, I checked the reviews and this one person, don't remember who, said: "interesting pairing." **

**Sigh, will people ever learn that if a story has two characters, it doesn't automaticly mean there is gonna be that pairing? I guess not.**

**And Orochimaru call's everyone '-kun' or something.**

**So no, this story is not NejixOrochimaru or anything.**

**This is the exact reason why they added the pairing opinion.**

**I don't own Naruto.**

"Talking"

_"Thinking, Flashback"_

"SHOUTING"

_"SHOUTING WHILE THINKING"_

"**Jutsu****"**

* * *

Nothing Changed, Expect Neji

Chapter 2: The Wish Granted

* * *

"Here we are, Neji-kun." Orochimaru stated. They were somewhere in the forest at a seemingly random clearance. At least to Neji, that was. The Hyuuga watched in silence as Orochimaru walked towards a tree, before raising his hand to touch it. With a tiny amount of chakra, a hole opened next to the tree, revealing a dark stairway.

Orochimaru turned to look at Neji, who was looking at the hole warily. "The tree has a seal on it that opens the passageway when my chakra is sent to it. No one else can open it." Orochimaru explained like Neji didn't know anything. Orochimaru then turned to walk down the stairs, Neji following close by.

It was a long walk and neji took the time to think of the agreement they currently held.

_FLASHBACK_

_The two of them were jumping from tree to tree in silence, until Orochimaru decided to talk. "So, Neji-kun. You ready to hear my offer?" the snake sannin asked, without turning to look at the Hyuuga. Not waiting for Neji to answer, Orochimaru continued: "The offer is this: I'll take care of the cursed seal, but don't tell anyone you don't have it anymore and cover your forehead always. It would be too sucpicious if you suddenly got rid of the seal. In return, you will aid me in my future plans and you will answer to me over the Hokage. Any questions?"_

_Neji thinked of it. Did he really want to get rid of the seal that badly, that he would answer to Orochimaru? He didn't even need to think of it. He had wanted the seal off his whole life._

_"Only one. When do we get to your base?" Neji asked, making Orochimaru smirk his dark smirk._

_FLASHBACK END_

Suddenly, Orochimaru stopped walking, making Neji come out of his thoughts. They had arrived to the end of the stairway and stood in front of a door. Orochimaru placed his hand over it, chanelling chakra to it, and the door opened. Orochimaru stepped in the dark room, with Neji following. A first, Neji didn't see anything, but after couple of seconds, he could see a table and a chair.

"Sit down, Neji-kun. This won't take long." Orochimaru said and walked to the table and took something from it. It was a syringe with something inside of it. Neji stared at it without blinking, but sat down on the chair. Orochimaru stabbed the syringe to Neji's hand, without warning, and Neji started to feel sleepy.

"Don't worry, Neji-kun. When you wake up, you'll be freed from your burden." said the voice of Orochimaru.

And with that, Neji fell unconscious.

* * *

Sakura barked in Hokage's room with Genma in tow, only to see the blonde sleeping with his head buried in the paperwork. "WAKE UP YOU BAKA!" Sakura shouted and punched Naruto's desk, startling the Hokage from his sleep.

"W-What, Sakura-chan! I wasn't sleeping! Just erm...Taking a little break, that's all." Said the not-so-sleepy Naruto at the sight of the pink-haired Kunoichi.

Sakura forced hershelf to calm down and Genma stepped forward. "Hokage-sama! We have something to inform you about Neji Hyuuga." He said formally, making Naruto snap his eyes to look at the Jonin.

"Speak." Ordered Naruto. He wanted to know what could be happening with his friend.

Sakura cleared her throat and took a deep breath. "He attacked his cousin Hanabi and if it wasn't for Genma, for bringing her to hospital, and me, for making a surgeon, she would be dead." she said as calmly as she could, but Naruto could see she was outrageous.

"Why would Neji do that. Its not like him to attack like that." Naruto said in a whisper. He couldn't believe what Sakura was telling him. Neji, attack his cousin? He slowly stood up from his seat, but was looking down, hair shadowing his face.

"N-Naruto?" Sakura asked. She had never seen Naruto like that and it scared her.

Naruto glanced at Sakura and Genma. "You two are dismissed." The two of them nodded and walked out of the room, but not without Sakura glancing back once more. When the two had exited, Naruto turned to look out of the window and spoke calmly, but with a voice full of authority: "ANBU!" four shadows jumped down to the front of his desk. The shadows revealed to be four shinobi wearing masks, crouched down to bow to their Hokage.

Naruto turned to look at the ANBU. "Get me Neji Hyuuga. Look from the village. If you find him, bring him to me. If don't, look from five mile range outside it. If you still don't find him, come back here. Dismissed." Naruto ordered, getting 'Hokage-sama' from them and the ANBU jumped out of the room.

With the ANBU gone, he fell back to his chair. Being Hokage sure wasn't as easy as he had thought back when he was a child.

* * *

Neji opened his eyes slowly. His skin burned at his forehead. He slowly brought his hand to his forehead, and gasped as he didn't feel the seal, only his skin. He shot up from his laying position and looked around the room. It didn't look familiar to him.

"Ah, you have awaken." a voice came from his right, making him look at the source. It was Orochimaru. "How do you feel?" the snake sannin asked curiously. Now Neji remembered what had happened. To think the cursed seal was finally off...it made him feel like a happy child he never was...

"Better than in...forever actually." Neji answered. He heard a chuckle from the sannin, but payed it no mind and stepped out of the chair, that had been turned to bed.

"I took the privilege to give you some of the muscle enchantment and chakra enchantment drugs created by Kabuto. Don't worry, they won't cause any harm to you, they only make you stronger." Orochimaru stated calmly, making Neji snap his eyes to look at him.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Neji sighed and straightened and faced the sannin fully. "So, what now?" Neji asked. Despite just waking up, he was tired.

Orochimaru just shrugged and began walking towards the entrance. "Now, you go back to the village. Return to your duties and wait for me to summon you." Orochimaru said and walked up the stairs. Neji followed after him only a second later, but when he came out of Orochimaru's base, he didn't see the sannin. The entrance closed behind him and Neji looked at the sky with a serious face, only for it to turn into a bright smile.

With that, he jumped towards the village.

* * *

When Neji arrived at the gates of Konohakagure, a team of ANBU appeared in front of him. "Neji Hyuuga, Hokage has requested your presense. Come with us peacefully, and we shall not hurt you." The captain of the group said formally, making Neji narrow his eyes. They stood still for couple of seconds, the ANBU already thinking Neji would attack them, but Neji just nodded and followed after them.

At the Hokage tower, Naruto was already waiting for them. He nodded respectfully towards the ANBU captain and dismissed them with a wave. When they were gone, probably just out of sight, Naruto turned to look at Neji.

"Neji Hyuuga, I heard of you attacking Hanabi Hyuuga." Naruto began with a voice of no emotion, that surprised Neji greatly. "I should have you arrested for attacking another ninja of your village." Naruto continued, making Neji narrow his eyes. Really? This was the reason he wanted to see him? Neji's rage towards Naruto grew, and he was ready to escape if something happened. "However, I forgive you this once, because you were provoked by Hanabi and you are my friend." Naruto's glare shoftened and he gave Neji a small smile.

"Neji, is something wrong with you? You can ask your friends for help, you know." Naruto asked softly. Neji just glared at the Uzumaki. How dare this man act all friendly after that?

"Nothing is wrong with me. If that's all, I'll take my leave, Hokage-sama." Neji said as calmly as he could. He needed some training.

Naruto looked little hurt that his friend denied his help, but nodded, and soon Neji was out of the office. On his way out of the tower, Neji saw Hinata Hyuuga walking towards Naruto's office. She smirked when Neji glared angrily at her. When they passed each other, Hinata whispered to his ear all too gently: "Do something like that again to Hanabi and I will kill you."

With that, the two continued on their ways.

* * *

Naruto sighed and sat down on his chair and laid his head on the desk. Just then, someone entered his office, making him almost shout at the person for entering without knocking, but halted, as it was Hinata Hyuuga, his most favorite person in the world.

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" Naruto shouted happily and rushed towards Hinata and gave her a small peck on the lips. "How are you today?" Naruto asked and took a chair for her to sit at, before sitting down on his own chair.

"Naruto-kun, I heard that my cousin, Neji, attacked my sister." Hinata said, making Naruto look serious all of a sudden.

"Oh, yes. I already took care of that. I gave him a warning, should he ever attack someone from Konoha again, he will be arrested." Naruto said, making Hinata look shocked.

Naruto was about to say something, when Hinata said: "You didn't arrest him? But, he is a danger to the citizens of Konohakagure! Hanabi almost died!" Hinata protested angrily, making Naruto gain a small sweatdrop and wave his hands around.

"B-But Hinata-chan, Neji is our friend!" Naruto tried to reassure her, but she was having none of it. She just crossed her arms under her breasts and looked out of a window.

"What kind of friend attacks your sister?" she asked, making Naruto sigh in defeat.

* * *

Orochimaru smirked at the new development. Apparently, Naruto was under Hinata's thumb, and Hinata didn't take lightly the attack against her sister. The snake sannin jumped down from the roof of the Hokage tower and made his way towards the Training Ground 44, also known as the Forest of Death, where he knew Neji would be.

When he arrived, he saw many bloody animals scattered on the ground, most likely dead, and in the middle of it all stood one man, his white shirt bloodied by the blood of the animals, an angry look on his face.

Neji turned to look at Orochimaru when the snake sannin chuckled darkly at the sight before him. "What do you want, Orochimaru? I'm busy killing everything in my sight." Neji stated, making Orochimaru's always present smirk widen.

"Kukuku, I came to inform you about something you should know, Neji-kun." Orochimaru said, his snake-like eyes shifting between Neji and the bloody animals.

Neji narrowed his eyes and activated his **Byakugan**, before crossing his arms and changing his weight from right foot to left.

"Speak."

"I happened to overhear conversation between Naruto-kun and your cousin, Hinata. She didn't take it lightly, Naruto-kun letting you go so easily. She wants you arrested." Orochimaru said, making Neji's eyes widen.

"B-But Naruto isn't going to let h-" Neji gasped out, still in shock, only to be cut off by Orochimaru's chuckle.

"What's so funny?" Neji asked angrily. How could this man laugh at the times like this?

"Oh, it's nothing, Neji-kun. I'm just amused that you think he would be able to stop her. After all he has done to you." Orochimaru stated, making Neji narrow his eyes.

"How can you be so sure?" he didn't want to jump into a conclusion before having a proof.

"Well, let's just say that Naruto-kun can't do anything without your cousin telling him what to do." Orochimaru said, making Neji look down and clench his hands into fists in anger.

_"He's telling the truth. I can tell by the way his chakra flows normaly. I'm totally getting arrested if I don't do something." _Neji thought and sighed, veins around his eyes going back to normal as his **Byakugan** deactivated.

"What should I do? You're a sannin, you should know." Neji asked and looked Orochimaru straight in the eyes. Orochimaru looked towards the gates of the forest, before turning back to Neji.

"We'll see what they're up to. You get arrested for couple of days, so I can work something out. Then, I'll free you." Orochimaru replied, making Neji think again.

_"Get arrested? Why should I do that? Oh well..."_

Neji nodded and was about to leave, when Orochimaru called out after him:

"Oh, and Neji-kun." Neji glanced back at him.

"Don't go down without a fight."

* * *

**To be continued...**

**So, what do you think?**

**Sorry for the long wait! I'll try to do better in the future...**

**I'll be adding cover to this soon. Thought I'd tell you..**

**This has nothing to do with the story, but if you like Melodic Death Metal, check out Scar Symmetry. I was listening to it while writing this :D**

**Next chapter coming when I feel like writing it.**

**And don't forget to review!**


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